The Wanderer's Chronicle
by LittlemissLazy
Summary: After years of running away and aimlessly wandering around in order to survive, Akina is getting tired of it all. She just wanted to be free from the shackles of her origin and to find a place where she didn't need to hide her identity, that she's in fact an Uzumaki. [Slightly Gaara x OC]
1. The Wanderer's Life

**A/n:** First, I would like to thank **Obssessiooonnn** because if it's not for her and her character Nana-chan, this story won't happen at all. Her story, Bocchan Dango is my inspiration for writing this story, so check it out because it's pretty good and interesting. Anyways, I would add the filler arcs in the anime in this story in the near future, so yeah enjoy. Lastly, if you guys find any grammatical errors and wrong spellings feel free to point it out and I will edit them right away. Thank you!

 **Disclaimer:** Please, let's get real here because seriously? I won't be here writing Fan Fiction if Naruto and its characters are mine. I only own my OCs and that's that.

 **Summary:** After years of running away and aimlessly wandering around in order to survive, Akina is getting tired of it all. She just wanted to be free from the shackles of her origin and to find a place where she didn't need to hide her identity, that she's in fact an Uzumaki. [Slightly Gaara x OC]

Edited: 02/08/2016

* * *

 **The Wanderer's Life**

It's getting dark outside the lone and small wooden house, near the forest in the outskirt part of a certain village in the Land of Fire. A little girl, no older than four with a pair of innocent silver eyes and straight and vibrant red hair sat in front of her mother, reading a scroll on her lap and patiently waiting for her father and older brother to come home. They've been gone since early in the morning and they're little late than usual.

Where could they've been gone all day? What are they things they see and do outside? How is it like to be in a world outside of their home? Where the little girl is strictly forbidden to go. She'd been wondering since the past few weeks. Since she saw her father and older brother left the house every morning and coming back with the scent of "sweat and dirt". She also noticed the few bruises on their arms and her beloved brother, too exhausted to even play with her.

"Okaa-san," The little girl called her mother, who's embroidering a swirl pattern on a piece of white cloth in front of her.

"Hmm?" Her mother hummed in her soothing tone.

"Why did Otou-san and Onii-chan could go outside while you and I can't?"

At the sudden innocent question that the little girl posed to her mother, her mother stopped stitching a red spiral symbol on a long piece of white cloth.

"Because the world outside is truly dangerous for us." Was her mother's short reply as she continued stitching where she'd stop.

"But if it's dangerous outside, why does father and older brother go?"

The concern question of the little girl made her mother chuckled in fondness.

"Only your Otou-san and Onii-chan have the strength against the dangers outside." She explained and cradled her daughter in her arms, "Besides, it's better and safer for us to just stay here and wait for them to come home."

The little girl remained silent as she stared at her mother's beautiful face. She understood that it's dangerous outside, but she didn't understand what made it dangerous.

Moments later, the girl somewhat got the gist of what her mother was trying to tell her. Her father and brother finally came home and she was happy. They looked tired with some bruises on their faces and arms as usual, but there's something off about them that puzzled the little girl. They were panicking and immediately packed their valuable stuff. Her mother did the same too without a word from neither her father nor older brother. She just watched them in confusion as they scooped up some of their belongings, her father carrying her in most protective manner.

She saw how her family ran outside using the back door of their house, fleeing from the safety of their small wooden house to deeper part of the forest. For the first time in her life, the girl tasted the outside world and it wasn't that bad. If only her family wasn't running away, needing to escape to their "pursuers" because the _secret_ was out.

The secret piqued the little girl's curiosity, and it was the start of her awareness about her family's odd lifestyle…

xxx

Months after fleeing from the small wooden house, the little girl turned five. Her family decided to settle in a small village after weeks of traveling around. For the little girl, traveling was the best experienced in her life. She was excited how the outside world looked like, at the same time, she was afraid that everything around her was spacious that she'll eventually get lost. Although, excitement got the best of her. The trees were taller than her. The blue sky was so wide. The moon giving them light and following them during the night. She was also overjoyed how warm the rays of sun and how refreshing the cold waters from the streams felt on her skin. How the wind caressed her face and gently blew her vibrant red hair.

It was all amazing!

But unlike before, the little girl noticed some changes in her family. Like how her mother was now allowed to go outside if accompanied by either her father or older brother. How her mother's beautiful fiery red hair that the girl always admired had changed to the colour of dark blue, similar to her father and older brother. It was all strange, especially if her mother will come back unusually exhausted like her father and older brother were. Although, the girl is thankful that her mother doesn't have bruises like them.

Those changes lit another fire of curiosity out of the little girl. She have many questions in her little mind. Questions that if answered, she will learn the painful truth and unfortunate fate of her family. And that in the near future, she will have answers and it will cost the life her family.

xxx

"I've been thinking of training Akina starting next week." The little girl's father started, one ordinary night after the family finished their supper.

For little Akina, that night wasn't ordinary. It was the night she will be allowed to go outside like her father, mother and older brother. She was afraid, but happy of her father's decision. But the sudden gasped from her mother and the sound of chopsticks, hitting the wooden table had somewhat dampened the girl's mood.

"But Tou-san," Akina's twelve year old brother, Atsuya interrupted. "She's too young!"

"I know that Akina is too young, but I'm sure that she could manage."

Little Akina frowned and tilted her head in confusion. She didn't know what her father and older brother were talking about. Akina looked at her mother, who's composing herself.

She cleared her throat to get her father's attention, "Atsuya is right, dear. Akina is still too young to train and to know about our family's affairs."

"I've already decided to train her after she discovered and started reading those sealing scrolls." Her father firmly said to her mother and his eyes were desperate. "And I don't want to risk it and put her in dangerous situation in the future, where she didn't know how to protect herself."

After her father's explanation, her mother and older brother didn't say a word anymore because it was decided. Akina will be taught by her mother and trained by her father.

Akina tried to stand up properly in her dusty pair of black flats with small red spiral symbol on the heel before she took another deep breath. She's training to perfect the Transformation jutsu with her older brother in the woods, outside the small fishing village their family were currently staying in the Land of Tea.

Sweats formed on her forehead as she started moulding her chakra from the centre of her stomach, spreading it to her body and bringing it to her fingertips. Then, her fingers formed the hand seals for a hundred time now since her father had taught it to her.

"Henge no Jutsu!" Her tired high-pitched voice said.

The gust of wind fluttered the hanging cloth of her scarlet obi around her waist. Smokes surrounded the girl for a second and her appearance changed of her older brother's. No more than ten seconds later after performing the technique, she suddenly released it and fell on the ground due to her almost low chakra. Obvious signs that she'd been training for a long time now.

Akina stood up and her little hands dropped on her knees as she panted, her lungs were craving for air.

It seems that moulding chakra and doing techniques that requires chakra control are pretty tiring for her age. She finally found out why her father and older brother were always unusually exhausted before. She also learned where the bruises on their faces and around their arms were coming from; it was from "harsh trainings", she discovered recently. After all, she's getting them too as of lately.

Akina started her training with her father and older brother after her mother taught her how to properly mould and control her chakra. It took her half of the year to control it enough and until now, she's still trying to learn how to control her large pool of chakra.

In a year, she learned a lot of things aside from knowing what chakra is and its fundamental use from her mother. She also started to learn how to write and read academic books. And secretly, she started mimicking the patterns and intricate writings in the scrolls she'd discovered before.

The little girl dusted off the skirt of her sleeveless cream kimono. She glanced at her father's direction, who's supervising her and mostly, her older brother's training.

"Water Release: Dragon Chaining Seal!" Her older brother hissed after he did some fast hand seals.

All of a sudden, a colossal Dragon made of water with its body like-chains came out of her brother's mouth. Akina watched in amazement at her older brother's technique. She wanted to do the same technique too, but what she wanted the most was to surpass her older brother.

As if reading her thoughts, "Atsuya has been training his nature chakra since he was seven. You won't catch up to him if you don't mind your own training."

Akina flinched in surprise when her father had said that.

"If you want to get stronger, you need to concentrate in your own training…" Her father strictly said that the little girl never knew her father was capable of, "…and to break your own limitations, Akina."

Akina stared at her father in fascination before she nodded. Determination, burning in her silver orbs. She tore her eyes away from her father and older brother and once again, moulding her chakra and formed the hand seals of Dog, Boar and Ram in her hands before muttering,

" _Henge no Jutsu!"_

* * *

Leaves fell from the trees to the ground as the branches swayed by the wind and got shook by several feet, leaping from branches to branches. Strands of red hairs flowed with the wind: it's useless now to conceal and hide the common traits of their family. And until they reached and passed the borders between the Land of Hot Water and Land of Rice Fields, only then that they could finally conceal it back.

"Kaa-san… Tou-san… I'm sorry." Fourteen years old, Atsuya apologised to his parents in the middle of running away, "It's my fault that we're leaving again and I'm so ashamed for being careless."

Akina glanced at her older brother. She couldn't comprehend why he's apologising to their parents. It's obviously not his fault that they're leaving from Yugakure. She can't helped it, but to voice out her thoughts.

"Why are you apologising to Okaa-san and Otou-san? It's not your fault–"

"Wherever you looked at it, it's my fault, okay?!" Atsuya snapped that shocked his little sister. He clicked his tongue before his face softened a bit: a sign of apology for yelling at her. "Your concern for me is not appreciated at the moment, especially if you don't know a thing, Akina."

The now seven years old, Akina groaned in frustration at her older brother's words, "Then, could you please tell me what I don't know?"

"This is not the time–"

"I'm not an idiot… I noticed that every time someone from the villages discovered that we have red hairs, we're always packing our stuff immediately…" Akina bit her lips as tears started to form in her eyes.

She thought of the friends she'd left in every villages. Every friends who doesn't even know her real name. And because of this, for the first time in her life, the little girl felt a pang of pain in her chest. It's a kind of pain that won't rival the physical pain that she received during her trainings.

"Akina…" Her mother called her name in concern and to calm her daughter.

"Why are we always running… always lying… always hiding… I'm getting tired of it!" She complained not just to her older brother, but to her parents as well, "I have my own life and friends too, you know?!"

"We will not have this conversation while running, Akina. Quiet down if you don't want them to know where we are." Her father only replied as the family continued to leap from branches to branches.

Without a choice, Akina just huffed.

It's been two years since her family started to change residencies at different villages in two countries– three if Land of Fire was counted, where she was born. She knew that the colour of their hair was pretty peculiar, but she didn't understand why they needed to flee because of it. She didn't get the reason for concealing it using a ninjutsu too. Most of all, she found it really absurd that her family was lying and giving false names to everyone instead of giving their real names.

In the early age of seven, Akina felt that her family was deceiving the world and that it suffocated her. With a firmed decision in her little mind, she foolishly decided that she will not hide her identity anymore. She will not conceal her red hair. She will be true about herself, a stupid decision for an ignorant little girl.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Kishimoto owns Naruto and all its characters. I, on the other hand just own my OCs and some head-canons/theories in this fic… that's all.

 **Edited:** 05/09/2016

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

The sky was already covered in a mixture shade of pastel orange and dark azure. Night time was approaching, but the people in the Fan-Fan Street seemed lively as the festivities goes on. The bustling long street was filled with colourful lanterns, several food stalls and different puppet shows and games, occupying the attention of both locals and foreign lodgers.

It wasn't that bad though. The twelve years old, Uzumaki Akina had thought to herself.

The stream of buzzing people hid her locations from the group of bandits that she'd unfortunately met on her way to the lodging town. Luckily, she came in this town in their festive day, which gave her the opportunity to hide and get away from them. Her silver eyes that resembled the snows looked around to see if somebody had followed her. When satisfied that none had, she entered the nearest resto-inn where she could spend the night. As she entered, she saw that it was pretty empty and was greeted by a lone barkeeper, who appeared to be a woman in her mid-twenties.

"Welcome." The woman greeted as she wiped the whisky glass that she's holding with a piece of yellow towel.

Akina decided to show her manners by taking off the hood of her long and ragged grey cloak, revealing to the barkeeper the upright collar of her long sleeves white blouse, her charming face and a pair of silver eyes that didn't complimented her medium-length ebony hair and the white ribbon ornament with a black spiral embossed on the middle.

"Can I get you something?" The woman asked.

"Can I have something to drink?" Akina requested hesitantly to the barkeeper in front of her.

The woman snorted before she teasingly said, "Why do you drink alcoholic drinks, Girly-chan?"

Akina just stared at the woman with po-faced, before walking at the counter.

"Do I look like someone who can drink alcohol?" Akina replied as she sat on the stool in front of the counter and took off from her shoulder her small lilac backpack, placing it on the stool beside her. "I'm underage."

"So serious… Well then, how about some juice?"

"Yes please," She said as she sat on the stool before adding, "and a light meal too."

The woman examined the girl for a while with a raised brow before setting aside the glass and the yellow towel.

"Sure thing." The woman said, smiling sweetly.

Akina pretended to scan the menu and the beautifully carved wooden glass shelves, full of alcoholic drinks behind the woman who's preparing her meal and drink. But the truth was, she's observing the barkeeper in the corner of her eyes and keeping a high alert. She also prepares herself to scram from that place if she ever sees the barkeeper doing something sceptical.

After ten minutes or so of observing the woman, she served Akina's meal without doing anything dubious things in front of her. Akina stared at the plate of fried Saury and Apple juice, then to the woman in front of her, before looking at the food again and taking a bite of Saury fish.

"This is a resto-inn, right?" Akina asked the barkeeper warily in the middle of eating her meal.

"Hmn… Why do you like to occupy a room upstairs, Girly-chan?" The barkeeper asked with interest while wiping the whisky glass again with the yellow towel, "If you're staying just for a night, we have a promo for five hundred ryou with Dinner and Breakfast included, you know? It's Festival Day."

Akina didn't care if it's Festival Day in Lodging Town. She bit her lips unconsciously, five hundred ryou was too much for her and she will be short in budget. Her brother's savings that she'd been using for the past two years was getting shorter and she calculated that if she spent five hundred ryou now, she wouldn't last after three months. She usually spent the night in the forest, but she guessed that it's not an option tonight. Someone was chasing after her and she's scared for her dear life, but she's also worried for her food money next week.

" _So… it's either I starve to death next week or die in the hands of those baboons tonight?"_ Akina thought to herself in annoyance. _"How unfortunate… I really hate these kinds of decisions where I'm forced to sacrifice my food money… tsk…"_

Akina mentally pounded her head on the imaginary countertop in her head, muttering "idiot" and "coward" repeatedly, before sighing in defeat. She decided to get the offered room tonight and to worry later for her food money next week.

"I'll get the room." Akina said calmly, like she didn't had an internal battle with herself earlier as she continued eating her meal.

"You're just a kid," The woman started to attempt a conversation, "So, what in the name are you doing here all alone, especially a little girl like you?"

Akina stopped eating and looked at the woman, her eyebrows twitched under her bangs. Silence fell in the room for a minute while Akina was assessing what she should tell to the woman in front of her, who seemed to be waiting to hear her reply.

"I'm not alone," Akina lied smoothly while gripping the chopsticks in her hand, before she continued eating. "My Onii-chan is doing a mercenary job for someone near this town and he told me to find a place for me to spend the night."

"Uh-huh…" The woman sounded as she nodded her head.

Akina didn't know if she convinced the woman with her lies, but when the woman didn't pried anymore, she mentally sighed in relief. The woman seemed satisfied at her answer. Though it left Akina uncomfortable because the answer she just gave was a lie… well, it wouldn't be if the woman in front of her asked her two years ago. But she didn't need to waste her time, thinking of "ifs" anymore since the sad truth was, she's really alone and her older brother died two years ago.

"Thanks for the meal." Akina thanked the woman before she paid the right amount for the room and meal.

"Please sign and write your family name here." The woman said as she placed the ledger on the countertop.

Akina nodded and grabbed the pen as she wrote a fake family name "Tanaka" and signing her name "Aki" on the paper wobbly.

The woman held the ledger while reading her name, "Hmm… Tanaka Aki-chan,"

"Here's the key to your room and the room number is already attach to it, so see it for yourself." The woman said as she handed the key to Akina, which the girl took in hurry. "You will easily find the stairs on the right side of the hallways behind that olive curtain."

Akina thanked the barkeeper again as she took her bag from the stool where she'd placed it.

"No problem." The woman smiled, "If you need anything, just knock on that door and call my name, it's Misaki."

Akina nodded and walked to the direction that the barkeeper had instructed her to. When she shifted the olive curtain, Misaki was right. Akina immediately saw the staircase on the right side of the hallways and she stared at it for a second before climbing her way upstairs. While climbing, Akina peeked at the key in her hand to know the room number of her occupied room.

" _Tenth room… not bad…"_ She thought to herself as she made it upstairs.

Suddenly, Akina bristled when she felt that someone was watching her, but when she turned her head around to see if someone was behind her, she saw that there was no one. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the spacious hallway in the second floor, moving her head back when she realized that she's just being paranoid.

She was about to start walking again to locate her occupied room, when she felt that there's something falling from her head.

Akina looked up and saw that there were sands from the ceiling. She frowned as she thrust her hand to catch the grains of sands that were falling to her hand. She curiously stared at it and asked herself where it came from. Seconds later, she decided to dust it off her hand and head, before shrugging her interest where it came from, so that she could find the tenth room and to get some rest already.

* * *

"Silly puppet shows…" Kankuro commented bitterly as he glared at the festival outside the window of their occupied room in the third floor of the resto-inn. "What a disgrace."

"Acting childishly because your puppets are just toys for kids?" Temari mocked her brother as she cleaned her huge fan with a white cloth.

The brown-haired puppeteer was about to defend his beloved puppets from his blondie sister, when suddenly, their youngest unstable sibling growled from his spot in the corner of the room. Both older brother and sister froze on their places as they slowly stared at Gaara. They noticed how he fidgeted from where he sat and the siblings thought that they must've annoyed him.

"I'm sorry for being loud." Kankuro apologised, sweats dropping from his forehead.

"We didn't mean to disturb you, Gaara." Temari added, "We're truly sorry."

Sabaku no Gaara ignored their apologies as he closed his left eye, lifting two of his fingers and placing it on the said closed eye. He couldn't stop himself from fidgeting since he sensed an enormous chakra within his area earlier. And as it neared him, he felt a spiral-like flow of chakra that he couldn't stop himself from growling excitedly. Just thinking of crushing the owner of that chakra with his sands and that owner whose blood will trickle and mix to his sands: those thoughts were enough to excite him… and probably "mother" too.

"What are you doing, Gaara?!"

"We're in neutral ground and there are civilians here."

"Calm down and stop whatever you're about to do."

"Please listen to us, Gaara."

The twelve years old jinchuuriki of the Ichibi ignored the pleas of his siblings as he sent his third eye to find out who's the owner of the chakra he is sensing and then, he found _her_.

A frail-looking girl was the owner of that enormous chakra? Gaara wanted to laugh loudly, but to say that he wasn't disappointed at his discovery was a lie. The host observed the ascending girl on the second floor of the resto-inn as he regained his self from his disbelief. Of course, he can't believe at first that such a weak-looking girl possessed an enormous chakra inside her, but looks could be deceiving… Gaara decided.

"She must be strong…" He murmured to himself as a sinister smile plastered on his lips, "Right, mother?"

As those words escaped from Gaara's lips, it terrified the hell out of his siblings. Temari and Kankuro are both panicking in fear now. He had started to talk to his "mother".

"What's happening here?" Baki asked as he suddenly entered the room.

Both elder siblings sighed in relief after seeing their Jonin-sensei. They'd thought that maybe with Baki's presence, somehow it will stop Gaara from whatever he's about to do.

Meanwhile, upon seeing Baki at the door, Gaara didn't have a choice, but to release his third eye. He glared at the assigned Jonin and his siblings because he lost his prey, but he will let this pass… for once. They're on their way to an important examination and he had all night to find that girl again. He'll take his time.

* * *

When Akina reached her occupied room, she immediately locked the door and scanned the small room. There was a single bed and nightstand with lamp, near the yellow curtained window. On the left side, there was an ivory sink with a mirror and a small dresser.

She dropped her lilac bag on the floor, below the bed before she sat on it, making her lips curled a bit when she felt the softness of the bed.

It's been a long time since she slept on a comfortable bed. During her travels, she always rested on the rough and uncomfortable branch of the tallest tree or under a large root of the oldest tree she could find in the forest, though she never slept well. She's too scared that if she fell asleep, someone will try to attack her and kill her or something like that. And even if she activated a barrier technique around her, her awareness to her surroundings was something she couldn't describe with words, but she knew that it's because of the rush of adrenaline in her system. Hopefully, she could sleep in peace tonight and her five hundred ryou, which is her food money for next week maybe worth spending.

"Release," Akina murmured to herself as she expelled the henge.

Wisps of smoke surrounded her, turning the colour of her hair from ebony to vibrant red.

She stood up and took off her long and ragged grey cloak, setting it aside with her small lilac bag and plain brown flats on the floor beside the bed, so that she could rest comfortably. She flopped herself on the bed after pulling the white ribbon on her hair, her medium-length bright red hair scattered on the pillow on her head. She brought her hands with the white ribbon on her chest before she sat up and slid the white ribbon inside her bag. Then, she took a storage scroll and released the contents (previously owned by her late parents and older brother), and taking four pieces of paper, a brush and sealing ink before writing her own sealing spell on the papers. After that, she laid each paper on the four sides of the bed.

Akina formed the hand seals of the Dog, Boar, Snake, Monkey, Horse and Tiger before she whispered,  
"Sealing Art: Four Barrier Formation Seal."

A thin light came out of the paper seals and it expanded, connecting and turning into invisible four corner barrier. It showed a minty line when glinted by moonlight and suddenly surrounded the girl on her four sides. These barrier will serve as her protection while she's resting for the night. After securing the barrier technique, Akina flopped on the bed and just stared at the coral ceiling above her as she rested her arms widely on her sides before sighing deeply. She could feel the exhaustion is slowly moving in every parts of her body. Maintaining a henge for three days wasn't easy and then, producing five clones while continuously pumping chakra in your feet just to get away from those bandits and erecting a complex barrier technique after that, it was truly tiring.

Akina closed her eyes and tried to sleep. As she fell asleep and giving way to the darkness that embraced her sight, she wished to dream of something nice, but she knew that she's unfortunate. The memories of her dying parents and the bloody sands of the desert will forever hunt her…


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She felt the cold breeze slammed on her face as her older brother carried her, desperately running away from the masked guys. Akina didn't understand why those masked guys were following them. When she looked below the trees, she saw their panting mother with their father, patiently waiting beside her. She told her older brother about them and he immediately stopped to go and aid their parents.

"Akina," Her mother said, trying to talk in between of her wheezing, "Did you… mention your name… to some…someone… in the village?"

Akina's eyes widened in shock and before she had the chance to reply to her mother's question, three masked men unexpectedly surrounded the small family of Uzumaki in the middle of the forest in the Land of Rice Fields. Her father and brother immediately went into fighting stance in order to protect the women in the family.

"What does the ANBU of Kumogakure needs from a civilian family?" Akina's father calmly asked the masked men despite the barely noticeable threatening tone in his voice.

"How did a civilian recognised the ANBU of Kumogakure?" One of the masked men sickly humoured, "Perhaps you're from a no longer existing clan from the Land of Whirlpools?"

The last sarcastic remark made Akina's older brother, Atsuya impulsively attacked one of the masked men. The girl watched as her brother fought the masked man and her father, cloning himself and trying to fight two masked men at once, while her mother quickly hugged her small form in a protective manner.

All of a sudden, another masked man appeared in front of her and her mother, bypassing her brother and father, who tried their best to protect her and her mother. The masked man, who suddenly appeared had forcefully grabbed Akina from her mother and pointed a sharp kunai at her throat, making her whimpered in fear.

"No! Don't hurt my child!" Her mother cried that it halted the fighting of her brother and father with the other masked men.

"Uzumaki Yukiya and Uzumaki Akatora," The masked man behind Akina said, identifying her parents' name. "We will spare your lives if you come with us."

"We're not ninjas anymore and we threw our village's hitai-ate many years ago to prove that we're quitting the ninja life, so why do you keep following us?!" Her mother yelled in fury at the masked man, "Why can't you just leave us in peace?!"

"As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, you should know why." The masked man behind Akina replied as he pushed the kunai on her throat.

Akina whimpered in pain as the masked man behind her pushed further the sharp kunai on her throat, drawing blood.

"Okaa-san! Otou-san!" Akina cried in pain and fear as she felt the sharp blade on her throat.

Her brother called her name as he ran to her side in order to save her, but then, it happened so fast: As the masked man was about to slit her throat, her mother, too worried for her had used a kawarimi jutsu to switched their places and before she knew it, the masked man slit her mother's throat.

Seeing the gruesome scene and her mother, dying in front of her, Akina was so scared that she couldn't move a single limb.

"Okaa-san! Akina!"

"Atsuya, get your sister out of here!"

"But Otou-san–"

"Quick!"

Akina felt her brother, carrying her again and as they ran away from there, her silver eyes saw how the masked men surrounded her father, assuming that he'll be killed. She closed her eyes to avoid witnessing her strong and admirable father's fall. All of a sudden, Akina felt something warm, thick and sticky in her hands. When she opened her eyes, she screamed in despair.

She remembered this blood too _damn_ well. She won't forget whose blood this was.

It was the blood of her older brother, coming from his katana and trailing down the sands. One moment she was in the middle of the misty forest in the Land of Rice Fields, the next she was back in the middle of the sandy desert in the Land of Wind and couldn't find her older brother's body. The sands where she found her brother's katana were painted black, so he must've been alive… maybe he's still alive… somewhere…

But who's she kidding? She knew he's dead. She saw his body, far away. _He died_.

* * *

Akina jolted and suddenly opened her eyes, the coral ceiling above greeted her. Remembering that she dreamed of another nightmare… her _memories_ again, she groaned. She sat on the bed, hugging her legs closer to her chest and buried her face on her knees. The movement made her bright red hair fell over her shoulders. Akina tilted her head to the side and saw her bright red hair. She stared at it for too long before she unconsciously caressed it before clutching it.

She didn't like her hair. She hates the colour of red. She detest it to her very core. Because Akina knew that her hair was a symbol that she won't be free from the greedy people, who wanted her for being – in some sick bastard's opinion, rare – Uzumaki. She also knew that this distinguished feature will eventually led her to the path of her own death, just like how it led her mother, father and brother.

After all, it was the colour of blood.

" _Death…"_ She thought to herself, _"Wouldn't it be nice to just die and–"_

" _ **I promise that I will live and try my best to survive, Onii-chan… even if right now… I really… really wanted to die and be with you… with our Okaa-san and Otou-san."**_

Akina slapped both of her cheeks… really _hard_ , pulling herself from her dark thoughts.

She shouldn't think of dying. She promised to her brother's grave that she will try her best to survive and she will honour that promise. Akina sighed and let go of her hair, releasing the barriers around her which she'd casted last night, and cleaning it up before she stood up. She slightly moved the curtains in the window to peek outside and she saw that the sun is not rising to its glory yet.

Knowing that she couldn't go back to sleep anymore, Akina paddled her feet towards the sink inside her occupied room with her small lilac bag. She used the toiletries on the sink: she brushed her teeth and washed her face before drying them off with a spare towel on the rack beside the sink. Then, she brushed her hair with her fingers in front of the mirror.

Opening her small lilac bag to get her white ribbon, Akina noticed her journal and picked it up. She smiled as her fingers found the lock. She pressed her finger on the lock, opening it and reading the first sentence where her silver eyes first landed.

… _it seemed to me that Onii-chan made some formidable enemies in Land of Earth because of his mercenary job, so we needed to move to another country again. It's just like the old times, but I understood now why we need to do it._

Akina tightly shut her eyes as she closed the journal and putting it back inside her bag. She forgot that her journal contained not only her fondest memories, but also the bad ones.

She took a very deep breath before letting it out of her chest. Once she opened her eyes and getting the white ribbon she needed in the first place, she secured the white ribbon in her hair; separating her medium-length back hair from her bangs and shoulder-length strands of hairs that were framing the both sides of her face. When Akina deemed that she's ready to go, she put on her long and ragged grey cloak, letting the hood hung on the back of her shoulders and showing her medium-length bright red hair before she slung the strap of her small lilac bag on her shoulder.

Before unlocking the door and going outside, Akina stopped and moulded her chakra first. She focused some of her chakra to the direction of her hair to make the transformation technique more effective and little lasting in case of emergency, while reserving at least a little amount of her chakra in her forehead.

She's reserving chakra in her forehead because according to her brother, most formidable women in their clan stored chakras in their forehead in order to master the Hundred Sealing Techniques. That mastering such technique made women in their clan to perform a lot of sealing techniques, which required huge amounts of chakra and delicate chakra control. This practice of chakra reserving was also the way of women to par in strength with the men in their clan, who have the largest chakra reserves.

That's why when Atsuya told her the first step of mastering the Hundred Sealing Techniques, Akina decided to do it by reserving chakra in her forehead in order to impress him, but after he died without even telling her the second step or third step – if there were any –, all Akina wanted was to stop the process of reserving chakra because it exhausted her.

Why she couldn't stop doing it? She's too scared to stop the process, fearing of what will happen to her if she did. Despite having a death wish, Akina is too coward to try anything that will harm her. She sighed before she decided to just shrug it off, taking a deep breath and executing the hand seals of Dog, Boar and Ram.

She whispered, "Transform."

Wisps of smoke surrounded her, transforming her bright red hair to the colour of ebony. Akina sighed again as she opened the door and left the room. She didn't want to think that the day will ever come again where she didn't need to do this concealing ritual she'd learned from her parents. After all, those days where she didn't need to do this concealing ritual were gone after her brother died.

Akina sighed for the third time that day before she just walked her way downstairs to return the key and eat her breakfast, so she could start traveling again to some place where her feet will bring her. As Akina turned to the staircase, she didn't notice that someone was climbing his way up the stairs from the ground floor. She just noticed him after something rough and hard as a rock _accidentally_ bumped her shoulder, making her small lilac bag fell on the floor and spilling her stuff.

"I'm sorry!" She quickly apologised to him as she picked up her bag and then, she noticed the ridiculously large gourd behind him.

" _What the... gourd?"_ Akina thought to herself, too shocked as she stared at his large gourd.

Gaara watched his prey closely over his shoulder as she stared for almost too long at his gourd that'd bumped her shoulder. When she realised that she's staring at it, she apologised again.

Akina didn't mean to block his way and stared rudely at his large gourd. It's just interestingly odd for her to see a ridiculously large gourd being carried by a small boy that looked around the same age as her. She apologised to him, meeting his dangerous pale blue-green orbs. His eyes reminded her of her older brother's unpleasant ones after their parents' death, making her looked away, but what grabbed her attention the most was his hair.

Realising that she'd rudely stared at him again made Akina flushed in embarrassment, making a decision to leave hurriedly. Because after seeing his hair, she strongly resisted her urge from asking him if he's an Uzumaki. She didn't even notice her journal and the customised hair stick-knife – that her brother gave to her on her eleventh birthday, four months before his death – fell from her bag while she's rudely staring at him.

"Wait." He suddenly said, his monotonous voice echoed lightly at the quiet staircase that it made her stopped from her tracks.

As Akina turned around to face him again, she saw that he picked up something before he held it in front of her.

"You dropped this." Gaara said over his shoulder as a matter-of-factly.

Her eyes widened when she saw the customised hair stick-knife in his hands, which she immediately grabbed from him.

"T…Thank you." She hurriedly said, stammering before she quickly descended downstairs, holding the hair stick-knife protectively closer to her chest.

When the girl went to the ground floor, Gaara decided to head back to the room he and his siblings have occupied. As he moved his feet to transport himself in swirl of sands, he felt that he stepped on something hard-bounded. He picked it up and eyed it with interest before vanishing in the swirling sands around him.

xxx

When Akina moved the olive curtains in the hall that separates the inn upstairs and the restaurant downstairs, she saw that there were already some people early that morning, who were eating their breakfast. Before Akina could scan the whole room, the barkeeper last night noticed her and the woman immediately greeted her.

"You're early, Aki-chan. How's your stay last night?" The woman tried to be socialised.

Akina eyed her for a second as she thought to herself, _"Why is she so nice to me? Is she planning to do something or what?"_

"Aki-chan," The barkeeper called her, "Are you okay?"

She walked to the counter to give the barkeeper the key to the room she'd occupied last night and safely slipping her customised hair stick-knife inside her lilac bag, and trying her best to comprehend the barkeeper's nice attitude towards her. It's really suspicious… although, maybe she's just really too wary of her.

"I'm fine? I guess…" Akina replied unsure as she placed the key on the top of the counter. "Uhm… Misaki-san, can I have some breakfast please?"

The bluenette woman happily clapped both of her hands together before she grabbed the key on the counter top, "Oh! I remember, your breakfast! Wait a minute."

The woman then disappeared to the kitchen, leaving Akina blinking to herself in confusion as she tried to understand the woman's suspicious kindness. She didn't know if there's a motive behind the barkeeper's kindness… or maybe she's just not used to it. After all, most people she'd met during her "little adventures" were either trying to deceive her or steal from her. The worst she'd met were the ones who tried to sell or kill her just because she's an Uzumaki or has a peculiar bright red hair. Although she knew that there were few people who have the kind hearts inside them, Akina didn't know how to deal with them once she met one without getting too cautious.

While Akina was thinking of the barkeeper's friendly attitude towards her, she'd failed to notice a member of the bandits that chased after her last night was inside the tavern. The bandit saw her cradling a precious looking hair stick earlier closely to her chest, before he left the tavern to inform the group of bandits what he had found.

Before Akina could turn her head around to glance around, her plate of three onigiri and grilled tuna fish arrived. Akina thanked the barkeeper for the food and ate her grilled tuna fish and one onigiri, saving the other two for her lunch while she's traveling. The onigiri will help to save her lunch money for today.

"Thanks for the meal and for your hospitality, Misaki-san." Akina said after finishing her meal and drinking the offered glass of water.

"No problem, Aki-chan." Misaki said while smiling sweetly at her as she cleaned the counter top, "Come back again if you can."

Akina nodded to the kind barkeeper before she stood from her stool, putting the hood of her grey cloak on her head and leaving the counter to walk at the exit of the tavern. She's ready for another journey ahead of her.

xxx

It was summer already and there's only a week left before the month of July came, the hottest month during summer season that Akina probably disliked right now. She'd expected that the weather will be really hot like this, but unfortunately, she didn't expect that there were no trees around on the road to shade her off from the scorching sun. It was just her and her useless long and ragged grey cloak – which absorbed the heat from the sun – on the side of the road surrounded by nothing but rice fields and electric posts.

She remembered the time when she'd travelled with her older brother in the Land of Wind for a year before. There were no trees in that country, but purely sands and dunes around. They also needed to wear thicker clothes to prevent themselves from getting sunburns, which made her sweat a lot during the day– Akina suddenly slapped her damped forehead because reminiscing that journey made her lips and mouth dry.

She brought her hand down from her sweaty forehead, few tresses of her bangs shifted a little from the movement as she reached for her canteen. When she touched it, Akina remembered that she'd emptied it earlier to quench her throat since she's parched from sweating too much. After realising that she didn't have any water with her, Akina stopped walking and just stared at the unfamiliar road in front of her and it appeared to her that it was one of her endless journey.

"How unfortunate…" Akina mumbled under her breath before she started walking again.

xxx

After walking on the seemingly "endless road to hell" for the whole morning, Akina thought she finally entered some sort of another dimensional world. There were suddenly trees around the road, shading her off from the sun and it was finally a little cooler. She enjoyed the warm breeze of wind, but her thirst wasn't completely forgotten. She needed to find a stream soon or she will die in dehydration. Though, that was bit exaggeration on her part.

Akina suddenly remembered that there was a sign bridge at the praying shrine that she'd passed by earlier, so she decided to speed up her journey, assuming that there's a river fifty metres away.

Almost thirty minutes and a sweating and panting Akina later, she finally saw the bridge and stream of water. Her eyes almost glinted in relief as she quickly went to it and immediately filled her canteen of water before drinking greedily to quench her thirst. When satisfied, Akina refilled it before resting under the tree, near the river and ate her onigiri, enjoying the sour goodness umeboshi with bits of smoked salmon and furikake.

She was about to popped in her mouth the last bite of her onigiri and the umeboshi she intended on saving earlier, when suddenly, few shadows completely surrounded her. When she looked up, she gaped in surprised, seeing the bandits who chased her last night. She bristled at the grins on their faces because it's downright creepy for her.

Popping the precious onigiri and umeboshi in her mouth, Akina immediately stood up from her sitting position and went into defensive stance, eyeing the ten scary-looking bandits in front of her. She carefully waited for them to attack her and/or steal some valuable from her.

"I'm really born with unfortunate luck." Akina mumbled to herself under her breath while clicking her tongue in annoyance as she quickly formed the Tiger hand seal,

"Bunshin no Jutsu."

Akina produced five clones, which the four clones suddenly surrounded her and her other clone summersaulted in the air before running away, appearing like a blur to confuse the bandits. When some of the bandits left to follow her clone, it was a quick change of plans. The remaining four clones mimicked the real Akina, who gathered chakra in the soles of her feet before running away in a random direction like her clones to mislead the bandits.

The real Akina noticed that three of the bandits were following her. Fighting ensued when the skinny and taller black-haired bandit used some kind of rope to bind her. Akina fell on the ground harshly after she felt the rope had bound around her form. Her arms were restricted behind her and for some reason, she felt a little weak.

When the three bandits surrounded her, Akina tried her best to give each of them her deathly glares while planning how to run away from them as she tried to snap the chain with her – non-existent – brute strength alone.

"Just give up already, Kawaii-chan." The fat and short brown-haired bandit said as he chuckled, crouching down to caress her cheek.

Akina tried her best to put a stoic face and not to cringe in disgust even though deep inside, she's panicking.

"She's such a pretty chic." The muscled tone and dark blue-haired bandit with a scar on his eyebrow stated as he crouched to her eye level, maliciously eyeing her from head to toes.

She gulped nervously before clenching her fist and gritting her teeth.

" _Compose and pull yourself, Akina. It's now or never._ "

She thought to herself, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Then, she advanced to head-butt the dark blue-haired bandit in front of her who dared to eye her maliciously. The two bandits seemed stunned at her sudden actions, so Akina took advantage of it. She swiftly stood up and spun around, stretching her left leg to trip the black-haired bandit on her back, who was holding the rope that Akina suspected was a chakra-draining stuff.

When Akina faced the last brown-haired bandit, there was suddenly a puffing noise and smoke suddenly surrounded Akina's head.

"Shit." She cursed to herself for her terrible luck as she coughed.

She felt that the brown-haired bandit restrained her movements once again before she could even use the smoke to get away from them. When the smoke dissipated, Akina's vibrant red hair was revealed to the present bandits in front of her.

"Red hair?!" The black-haired bandit shouted in confusion after seeing her hair.

"An Uzumaki!" The dark blue-haired bandit exclaimed while nursing his pained forehead before he smirked, "We could sell her in the black market for a high price."

Akina lost her cool after hearing that one of these group of scums recognised who she is and will sell her for her rare bloodline limit. Aside from hating her origin, she truly despised these kind of people.

Giving all of her best strength, Akina elbowed the brown-haired bandit on his crotch, who let go of the rope after she hit him where-it-hurts-the-most. Akina used this opportunity to stand up, taking the customised hair stick-dagger inside her bag and lacing it with too much chakra to cut the chakra-draining rope. And because it was a low quality chakra-draining rope… it snapped from the chakra-laced dagger. Without much of a thought, Akina ran for her dear life after the rope snapped.

When she glanced behind her, Akina knew it will be too good to be true if they didn't went after her. She had to resort to use another three illusion clones to distract them while she tried her best to run as fast as she could, continuously pumping chakra to the soles of her feet.

For some strange reason, when Akina entered some sort of invisible barrier around the forest that the bandits stopped chasing after her. She raised a brow after seeing that the two bandits retreated, at least two of them was seemingly scared while the dark blue-haired one was annoyed.

When the bandits left the vicinity, Akina shrugged this off and rested under a tree for a good five minutes. After deeming that those bandits will no longer chase after her, Akina stood up and stretched her legs. After stretching her leg muscles and joints for a while, Akina casted another henge to her hair before she continued on her solo-journey.

As she put the hood of her cloak on the back of her head, something hard had hit her head and it fell on her hand. Akina raised the brown sack pouch and eyed it suspiciously. Suddenly, a coin dropped from the pouch and when she opened it, her silver eyes widened at the amount of money inside. She suspected that this pouch probably belonged to one of the bandits and it accidentally fell in her hood when she's trying to get away from them earlier.

She tossed the coin in the air and caught it with her free hand.

"I bet that fat guy dropped this." Akina quietly told herself in amusement before she smirked. "At least, I'm not really that unlucky today."

And with that, she continued walking further inside the forest.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When Akina decided to start her journey that early morning, she didn't expect that three kilometres from Fan-Fan Street was another village to stop by. She clearly remembered that she didn't saw any signboards on the road earlier, indicating that there's a village in the particular area– a village in the middle of the forest with highest walls surrounding it and have the tallest gates she'd ever seen!

She's absolutely awed at the place as her feet walked from the dusty ground to the cobblestone on the entrance area.

" _This is suspicious though."_ Akina thought to herself as she scanned the area. _"There's a bustling village in the middle of the forest that was as large as the Land of Fire's capital and yet, nobody put a damned sign on the road about this village."_

As the twelve years old entered the village, she doubt that this is like the villages she'd visited before. And because Akina was lost in her thoughts, she'd failed to notice a ninja approaching her from behind.

"Ojou-san, please state your purpose here." A brown-haired Chunin with pale and lavender eyes asked the twelve years old girl.

Akina quickly spun around to see who it was– her eyes were wide in shock, and internally she's panicking.

" _I didn't even notice that he's there!"_ She exclaimed to herself.

Seeing the girl's shocked yet quiet reaction, something clicked in the mind of Hyuuga Daisuke.

He smiled and kindly offered, "Or are you here for the Chunin Exams?"

Uzumaki Akina, who wasn't that familiar when it comes to the shinobi system and haven't had the faintest clue what the "Chunin Exams" is, started to mentally curse herself,

" _What the heck is the Chunin Exams?!"_

"If you are here for the examinations, please show me your country's traffic pass and your village's hitai-ate." Hyuuga Daisuke informed the now impassive-looking girl.

Country's traffic pass and village's hitai-ate… Akina just wanted to hit her head to the nearest wall or tree. Of all the places she'd to be at now, why must it be a shinobi village? Why the heck she didn't realise the clues in front of her? She'd heard of this before! Hidden Villages were most ninja resides. When will she have a break from all of these?

Akina internally sighed before staring at the brown-haired ninja, who's waiting for her reply. She cleared her drying throat and slightly dipped her chin before replying.

"I am a wanderer and I'm only here to observe the examinations." She hoped that she'd said that right and didn't sound suspicious at all for a twelve years old girl.

The least she wanted right now is for a shinobi-filled village to suspect that she's a spy.

She stubbornly stood her grounds, refusing to be intimidated by the man with pale eyes and girly-look as he scrutinised her, looking for any traces of malicious intent from her. Then, Daisuke decided that she seems fine, so he gave her the visitor's pass of the village, welcoming Akina with his warmest smile.

Akina thought that despite looking at her kindly, she could sense the underlying threat from the man that definitely says: _Welcome to a shinobi-filled village. Do something suspicious. You die._

After receiving the visitor's pass from the girly-looking man, Akina politely thanked him. As she walked further to the main street of the village, she decided that she needed to find out the name of the hidden village first and then, she will gather information about the so-called "Chunin Exams".

When Akina turned around to walk further inside the village, Hyuuga Daisuke activated his Byakugan and saw that the twelve years old girl was slowly building up a large amount of chakra in her head. The Chunin began to feel nervous of his decision, but he assured himself that if the girl caused trouble inside their village, ANBU will deal with her.

Akina slightly grimaced at the thought that if she's not in a henge, her red hair will definitely stick out like a sore thumb in this village. As she walked at the centre of the village, different kinds of food from various restaurants and stores around her had wafted through her nose, making her mouth watery and leaving her hungry. She sighed while clenching her fist. She needed to gather information first about this village and the examination before anything else. She couldn't afford to stay in this foreign place, knowing that there's a possibility that this village could be one of the enemies of her clan before.

All of a sudden, Akina stiffened at the familiar scent that entered her nose. She knew that delicious smell too well! She snapped her head to her side and saw a store that sells one of her favourite foods: Korokke.

At the sight of her favourite food, stars and sparkles almost appear around Akina as she eyed the crispy and golden potato-goodness. She took a deep breath and mentally berated herself.

" _Okay… information about the village first and then, the examination before buying some Korokke… Korokke… Damn it! Korokke first before any information gathering!"_

And the foolish girl made a beeline to the store to buy the deep-fry potato covered crumbs.

xxx

Despite being paranoid earlier when she realised that she's in a shinobi-filled village, Akina was feeling quite foolish at the moment. She's indulging herself to one of her guilty pleasure of a food, happily humming to a quiet tune while munching a piping hot Korokke as she stride through the streets of Konohagakure no Sato.

That's right! She learned the name of the village she was currently staying at without breaking any law. Well, after buying Korokke at the store, Akina didn't need to gather the information she needed. The old lady who sold her favourite was a talkative old woman. When she politely greeted her, the vendor enthusiastically welcomed her in the store- where Akina learned the name of the village after the old woman mentioned it. And when she mentioned the words "Chunin Exams", the old lady doted over her grandson who couldn't participate in the exam. Apparently, Konohagakure is the host of the Chunin Exams or also known as the Chunin Selection Examination. It's a yearly test that occurs twice a year, and any eligible and willing Genin who wanted to advance to Chunin may take the examination. So Akina reasoned to herself that buying her favourite food wasn't for naught after all. She felt a little but at ease in the village after learning that it was the hometown of the author who wrote her favourite book: The Tales of a Gutsy Ninja.

As she took the last bite and nonchalantly rounded the corner, Akina thought that she heard something. She noticed that there's a bunch of people in the middle of the street, two were at the tree behind the wooden fences. The dark-haired boy with a duck butt-like hairstyle was coolly perching on the branch while the dark red-haired kid was hanging upside-down on the other higher branch.

Her pair of silver eyes quickly widened in surprise when Akina recognised the dark red-haired kid.

" _He's the red-head kid earlier with a weird large gourd!"_ Akina thought to herself, _"He's a ninja?!"_

"I was at fault." The seemingly older guy in black cat-like clothing apologised, raising both of his arms in surrender. "I'm sorry." He added and repeated, "I'm really sorry."

She saw the red-haired boy whipped his head to the dark-haired boy and said in a monotonous voice, "Excuse them, you guys."

To avoid getting involved with them, Akina decided to silently cross the street. As she crossed, she saw how the red-haired boy dissolved in the swirling grain of sands and materialised in front of his two companions. Her silver eyes met his teal orbs for the second time that day as he spoke to his companions. If Akina was completely stunned at this, she tried to mask it well. She immediately looked away from his unpleasant eyes and continued crossing the street. For the last time, Akina glanced at them before going to her destination.

She's not aware that she's smiling at the thought of seeing him apologising for the trouble his companions may have caused to the locals earlier. Akina thought that maybe he's not bad despite having those unpleasant eyes like her older brother… oh how wrong she was for saying that so early.

She found out his true colours on her second day in the village after she found a place to stay while in the village for an affordable price, which happens to be the same place the Sand Siblings are staying at.

xxx

Gaara patiently sat on the bench near Kankuro, who's pacing back and forth in the empty lobby of the Mitsuba Hotel & Family Restaurant. They're both waiting for Temari, who's still in the bathhouse, and has the key to their room. It was then that Akina just came back from getting water at the common room. When she passed by the brothers with a glass of water at hand, Kankuro didn't see her and accidentally bumped her when he turned around, and forehead met bare chin.

"That hurts!" Kankuro said as he nurse his chin.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Akina apologised, but he grabbed her collar.

The sudden movement had made the glass slipped from her hand and crashed on the floor. The two failed to notice that some of the water flew to Gaara's direction, soaking his hair.

"Watch where you're going–"

"Let her go, Kankuro." Gaara interrupted.

When Kankuro glanced at his brother and suddenly felt horrified, loosening the grip on the girl's collar after seeing his brother's soaking hair. Gaara is also clearly annoyed at what happened.

Akina followed the older boy's line of sight and her lips parted in surprise when she saw the dark red-haired boy. She didn't realise that he's even there. Then, she saw his soaking hair and quietly gasped in shock.

"I-I'm sorry!" She quickly apologised to him, and mentally scolding herself for drawing attention.

A deafening silence reigned in the empty lobby after those words escaped from Akina's lips.

Now, Gaara is not a pathetic person who will kill someone for spilling their water on him, but he recognised the girl. He had marked her before as his prey, thinking that she's strong because of the massive chakra he could sense in her as a sensory-type ninja. Or this girl just didn't know how to control her chakra. He didn't know, but he'd been itching to kill somebody and she's here giving him the opportunity.

He glared at her as he stood from the bench, willing his sands to wrap around the girl's form.

"Die." He calmly said.

Seeing the sands around her body, Akina's eyes widened in shock and her breath quickened. It wasn't the threat in her life that's making her tremble. In fact, it didn't even register in her mind that the dark red-head boy in front of her wants to kill her. Because that exact moment, she remembered her brother's death after seeing the moving sands. It reminds her of the sands in the harsh desert in the Land of Wind.

Lost in her thoughts from the barrage of traumatic memories, Akina unconsciously ran a special moulded chakra in her chakra network, activating a technique for the first time in her life. And all of a sudden, a thick and spiky golden chain came out from her abdomen where the centre of her chakra network is. The chain pierced through the sands that were wrapped around her form and rapidly moved to Gaara's direction.

It was too late for the sands to defend Gaara from the moving chain and even if the sands shield him, it will just go through. When the thick and spiky golden chain made a contact to Gaara, the sands around dissolved on the ground. And the second after the sands dissolved and the chain wrapped itself around his form, Shukaku screamed in his mind. Gaara wanted to clutch his head or do something just to stop the painful headache-inducing screams, but couldn't because of the thick and spiky golden chain restricting his movements.

" **I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"**

"I'm going to kill you!" Gaara shouted in pain and rage, repeating the loud scream of the Biju inside his head.

Then, Shukaku went silent and retreated to the back of his mind, which confused Gaara, but was relieved that the screaming stopped; though the headache from Shukaku's screaming haven't subsided yet. Gaara looked down at the spiky golden chain around him and scowled at the girl in front of him who looked like she was in pain too.

Suddenly, the thick and spiky golden chain dropped Gaara; the sands cushioned his fall.

"I'm going to kill you…" Gaara weakly panted.

Silver met pale blue-green orbs, and the girl snorted at his threat.

"If you're serious at your threat to kill me, you should do it properly and not in this pathetic state." She commented as she tried her best to stand up.

In her still jumbled mind, Akina frustratingly scolded herself for not zipping her mouth shut from saying those things that will only provoked him. Though, it's really no use if he wanted to kill her for real. That way she'll die to lessen the burden and pain in her life.

She'll like it more… probably.

And speaking of pain, Akina glanced at the thick and spiky golden chain coming out of her abdomen. She just noticed then why her body's feeling numbed from the heavy pain. She suddenly became aware of the pain inflicted in her body by this weird chain: she felt her chakra coils burning. Her muscles limping and becoming numbed. And her body thoroughly weakened after realising what she'd done.

She gave a short glance between a weakened Gaara and Kankuro before she decided to leave, the golden chain slowly disappearing, but the heaviness of it still remained in her body.

" _Nii-chan, please protect me."_ Akina thought as she walked away from the brothers with the rattling chain and aching body. _"I might have activated the special chain of our clan that you were talking about, accidentally."_

Kankuro was shocked at what just happened. He didn't dare to move as he stared at the ebony-head's retreating form.

"She's bold and daring," _To attack Gaara like that_. Kankuro told himself more than his brother, who's slowly standing up.

Gaara, who felt lethargic had saw through the girl, so he corrected his brother's statement.

"She's just a coward with a death wish." Gaara said as he glared at the girl's back for weakening him.

" **Let's kill her! Kill! Kill! Kill!"**

It was strange for Shukaku to be silent for a while, but Gaara didn't think of the Biju's sudden silence as the girl's doing. He suspected something but it's not concrete, so he decided to keep his suspicions. Though, that girl didn't disappoint him. He'll make sure to squeeze her to death; her blood will absolutely mix with his sands.

* * *

Tears spilled from her cheeks as one of the masked men loomed over her small trembling form with a sharp kunai at hand. She shut her eyes closed and raised her arms to protect herself even though it's futile as the kunai slashed through her forearm. She cried in pain as she held her wounded arm, her own blood spilling from her little hand. When she stared at the blood in her hand, she felt suffocated and sands suddenly wrapped around her form. She closed her eyes and darkness surrounded her.

" _You don't deserve to live, Akina."_ She heard the voice of her mother. _"You killed me."_

She whimpered at the words of her father, _"Why are you even alive? You should've died that day with us."_

" _You should've died with mother and father, so I wouldn't have died protecting you, Imouto."_ She chocked in sobs as she heard her beloved older brother.

" _It's all your fault that we're dead, Akina."_

Akina covered her ears as her family chanted those words at her in the darkness. When she opened her eyes, she's back in the desert, screaming in despair with her brother's katana in her hand and his almost unrecognisable corpse lying next to her. She only stopped screaming in despair when the racoon-eyed boy emerged from the sands that were soaked in blood.

He looked at her blankly before calmly telling her, "I'm going to kill you."

Then, black sands rose from the ground and swirled around before wrapping around her. When her brother's katana fell from her hand, she heard a high-pitch voice screamed.

"Why?!"

When Akina turned her head halfway, she saw her younger self screaming behind her.

"Why are you so coward?! Just kill yourself already!" The ten year old Akina screamed. "You hypocrite! You said you wouldn't run away anymore, but you just run and run, and run for the past few years! And you said that you will be true to yourself?! But looked what happened! We killed Okaa-san and Otou-san, and now we killed Nii-chan! We deserve to die! You deserve to die!"

With that, her brother's katana plunged through her chest and felt the sands suffocating her with the metallic scent of blood.

* * *

Akina woke up, gasping for air with ache in her chest and abdomen. She was sweating like a pig too; her red hair, sticking on her forehead and nape. She slowly sat up on her futon and grabbed the canteen of water near her. After drinking water from her canteen and stabled her breathing, she took the folded towel near her futon and wiped off the sweat on her face and neck. When she's done, Akina laid again on the futon and stared at nothing.

It's been five days since she activated the special technique of her clan. Akina just stayed in her occupied room and laid on the futon to rest her body, especially her chakra system, occasionally getting up – with comforter all over her form like a ghost to hide her hair – to receive the food and water from the kind owners who learned that she's sick. The couple are kind enough to bring food in her room and offered to bring her to the hospital, but Akina politely refused. She feared that Konoha will learn about her if she get anywhere near those establishments. Fortunately for Akina, the couple thought that she's just afraid of doctors and hospitals.

When she turned around to lay on her side, she felt the pain in her abdomen and mostly in her chest, where she felt her younger self stabbed her in her dream, and when she remembered her dream, her hands clutched the edge of the comforter as she bit her lips.

After her parents were killed by those masked men, Akina didn't remember much of what happened that day. All she knew was that after she got injured for the second time, her brother stained his hands with blood for the first time in his life in order to protect her and their lives from the murderers of their parents. Though, she vaguely remembered getting sick for few weeks. When she got better, she learned that it was from the infection from the wounds she received in her neck and forearm. Apparently, her older brother tried to heal her injuries, but did it messily, so it got infected. It was all pure luck that a medic stumbled upon them and healed her.

She caressed the scar on her neck and forearm. She knew it's already a fading scar, but she could still feel the tissue that patched the skin together.

Akina sighed as she closed her eyes.

After she fully recovered, that's where her brother started to slowly change. She remembered how often they have to disguise themselves when they travelled around and that he's often gone, leaving her alone with talking owlets, Shirofuku and Bokuto. Then one day, her brother suddenly decided to tell her about their origin; the tragedy of their clan's obliteration. The reason why they're hiding in the first place and for what reason their parents died before her brother sealed their red hairs, turning it into the colour of white like the snow.

Akina softly chuckled at the thought how ridiculous she'd looked before with her white hair and silver eyes. She must've looked like a yuki-onna or something similar.

She was about to go back to sleep when she felt a trickle of sands slowly wrapped around her neck. Her eyes widened and she panicked. Her lilac bag where her barrier sealing tags were far away from her futon, and she could feel the trickle of sands slowly thickening.

Akina quickly sat on her futon and moulded chakra. She concentrated chakra to her hands and made some hand seals of: Dog, Boar, Snake, Ram, Horse and Tiger before slamming her hands on the tatami mat-covered floor, and sending a thread-like chakra that formed into a triangle around her.

"Sealing Art: Triangle Barrier Seal." She shortly muttered after the triangle formation.

Then, the thread-like chakra expanded and formed a triangle prism barrier that shielded Akina's body. The thickening sands around her neck dissolved inside the barrier as she continuously moulded chakra and kept both of her hands on the floor to maintain the barrier.

"Come out, Sandy boy." Akina quietly said while her eyes darted around her.

When a shadow suddenly creeped behind her, Akina turned around to face him and was greeted by a calm yet disturbing face of the red-head boy, sitting on the window frame of her room.

She sighed before she asked him, "When will you stop being a creep? It's starting to piss me off! Seriously, it's not funny anymore."

For the past few days, Akina suspected that he was stalking her. She frequently saw a creeping shadow appearing behind her before disappearing like those cheap horror movies they show in cinemas. She thought he has a weird sense of humour, and at first Akina found it funny, but the creeping shadow is getting old now and it's starting to annoy her. And she just had a nightmare of him, killing her.

"I'll stop," He started as Akina looked at him in complete surprise. Honestly, she didn't expect him to answer her. "If I killed you and after mother tasted your blood."

Akina frowned in confusion as she stared at the ginger head in front of her. What? Did she heard him right? His mother wanted to what? Taste her blood?

"Mother and I sensed the amount of chakra inside you." He added, confirming Akina's doubts before.

Her lips parted in shock before she shook her head, "You're crazy."

"And by killing you, I will redeem myself." He obviously ignored her as he continued, "I won't lose my very existence!"

After he said those words, Akina didn't know how she should react. In the end she'd looked at him with a mixture of sympathy and fright, which earned Akina a scowl from him after seeing those emotions in her eyes. She immediately changed her expression to an uninterested one. She tried her best to pull this in order to deceive him that she's not afraid of him. The truth was she's scared of him. Because although Akina has a death wish, she still has self-preservation and instinct to survive, and she didn't want to die in his hands. Akina already knew that he's creepy and dangerous, but now she suspected that he had a homicidal disorder too. And if she looked at another possibility, he could kill her on the spot if he's really serious about killing her. His unpleasant eyes were the proof of that and it's really frightening her.

Then, her silver eyes travelled to his wild red hair.

"Are you an Uzumaki?" Akina asked before she could stop herself from asking him.

Damn it! Why can't she control her mouth sometimes? This isn't the time for this. Though, her question seemed to confuse him. The movements of his sands outside her prism barrier halted and he blankly stared at her because of her ridiculous question. Seeing his confused reaction, Akina felt a slight disappointment before she waved off her hand.

"Forget it," She told him still waving off her hand, dismissing the topic. "The door and window is open, so you could leave whenever you wanted."

After Akina said that, she laid on her side with her hands still touching the floor before she closed her eyes. She tried to sleep again, which she failed to do because she could feel Gaara's unnerving stares. She opened her eyes and was met with his terrifying eyes as the moonlight shadowed the rest of his features.

"Aren't you tired? 'M tired." She mumbled to herself as her eyes started to become droopy and her arms and side aching from its awkward position.

Few minutes later, Gaara finally decided to leave her alone, but not before threatening her again.

"I'll kill you next time." She heard him say.

She slightly opened an eye to peek at him and saw how he left in a swirl of sands.

When Akina was sure that he had left, she released the technique and felt tingling in her aching arms, but the sudden surge of pain in her weakened body had made the tingling in her arms tolerable. She thought that maybe it was the after-effect of using her chakra for the first time since she accidentally used the special chain five days ago. Akina curled in a ball as she felt the burning pain in her chakra coils, and her body trembled in pain. As she cradled herself in the comfort of the futon, she forgot that the red-head boy may have noticed her vibrant red hair.


End file.
